Hebrews 12:11-14 Kjv

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 12:14-29

George MacDonald writes: "Nothing is inexorable but love – For love loves unto purity. Love has ever in view the absolute loveliness of that which it beholds. Where loveliness is incomplete, and love cannot love its fill of loving, it spends itself to make more lovely, that it may love more; it strives for...

For Reading and Meditation:     Psalm 24:1-10

We spend one more day meditating on the words: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." The concluding words of this Beatitude are often misunderstood. Many believe them to have reference to the saints' eternal reward in heaven. Tennyson expressed this thought in his famous lines: "I hope to see my Pilot...

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 12:1-13

We ended yesterday by saying that some things in life, such as the desire to have money, can be legitimate concerns but they must be looked upon as desires and never become goals. Permit me to differentiate between the two. A goal is a purpose to which a person is unalterably committed and something for which he or...

How happy are tried Christians, afterwards. No calm more deep than that which succeeds a storm. Who has not rejoiced in clear shinings after rain? Victorious banquets are for well-exercised soldiers. After killing the lion we eat the honey; after climbing the Hill Difficulty, we sit down in the arbour to rest; after traversing the Valley of Humiliation, after fighting with Apollyon, the shining one appears, with the healing branch from the tree of life. Our sorrows, like the passing keels...

It is true that "calm seas never made a sailor." It is through tribulation that we develop patience. It is through pressure that we are enlarged.

Even men of the world have realized that difficulties have educative and broadening values. Charles Kettering once said, "Problems are the price of progress. Don't bring me anything but problems. Good news weakens me."

But especially from the Christian world come testimonies to the profit derived from trials.

We read, for...

The words chastening, chasteneth, chastisement and chastened occur seven times in the first 11 verses of Hebrews 12:1-29. As a result it is easy for the casual reader to get a wrong impression. He might easily picture God as an angry Father who is forever whipping His children. This misconception arises from thinking of chastening as nothing but punishment.

It is a great relief to learn that chastening in the New Testament has a much...

He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has given to...

Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. § There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles. § There is no spot in you.You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. § As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each...

It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him. § For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge. § The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. § Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?Jesus wept. § A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. § Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives …...

Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. § I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. § “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. § As a man chastens his son, so the Lord...